More Groh Quotes

I'm going to empty all the extra quotes provided by the Virginia media relations staff, then we can start fresh tomorrow evaluating the state of the Maryland team after six games"

Here is Al Groh after the victory:

“We took a little step forward here tonight. All four phases had a good evening: offense, defense, special teams and coaching staff. We have a ways to go yet and we have a lot of things to improve upon but I think we made some progress tonight.”

Looking ahead
“Our challenge is to keep moving forward next week and realize this is one phase in the overall development of our team. We have a ways to go with seven games ahead of us.”

On stopping Maryland’s RB Da’Rel Scott and WR Darrius Heyward-Bay
“They are the two playmakers on that team and that was quite apparent when watching the previous games. We had some detailed plans in mind to deal with them. The bottom line is our players focused on what we had to do in regards to those two players and got it done.”

On Cedric Peerman
“To have Cedric Peerman back for what is essentially the first time this season made a great difference. He’s got a great heart for competition, his team and his teammates. His production is a significant part of what we want to do.”

On Mikell Simpson
“He took the ball from Cedric and literally ran with it for that (later) part of the game and did a bang up job.”

On the offensive Line and first-time, freshman starter Austin Pasztor
“The offensive line made some real good progress tonight. That included a nice break in for Austin Pasztor who started against, and played against, some real good players tonight.”

On QB Marc Verica
“This is an on going process and this position in football can often be a season-long or even a multiple-season process. That being said, he played a very, very good game tonight. He was on target from the start. He overcame a tough week to play very well. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.”

On going for it on fourth and short
“We said, ‘Don’t over-coach this.’” We planned to give this game to the players and let them take ownership. They took ownership.”

On Virginia’s big plays
“When teams are point-producers, it is usually because they turn in some big plays. We certainly got some big plays tonight.”